1. Industrial Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decorative light-transmittance sheet type key top using for a portable telephone, a portable information terminal, remote controllers for various home electric appliances, a card remote controller and various types of keyboards, which are excellent in beauty and have high-class sense, and manufacturing methods thereof.
2. Prior Art
In recent years, a sheet type key top of a push button has been used for a portable telephone or a remote controller which has been made compact and light weight. The sheet type key top is integrally formed with a transmittance plastic film which is curved according to a shape of a top face side of a key top body on the top face side of the key top body made of polymer resin molded as a thin and light weight switch.
Moreover, as the design variation of a portable telephone or a switch of a remote controller, ones having metallic luster or pearl luster have become required. As a method for decorating a key top part of a pushbutton switch with metallic luster or pearl luster, conventionally a method by which a metal powder or a pearl pigment is mixed and molded with resin or rubber component, a method by which a paint containing metallic powder or a pearl pigment is screen-printed or spray-coated, a method by which a thin metal film made of aluminum, chrome or the like is provided on a surface of a key top by vacuum deposition or spattering, a method using plating and the like are known.
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
However, since in the conventional method of mixing and molding metal powder or pearl pigment with resin or rubber uniform dispersion of the powder is difficult, there are problems that segregation of powder causes stripes or unevenness in color tone and make characters and symbols illegible. Moreover, in the method which prints a paint containing metallic powder or pearl pigment, a decorative key top having uniform and highly massive luster can not realize.
On the other hand, a key top that can obtain by vacuum-depositing, spattering or plating a metal thin film made of aluminum, chrome or the like on the surface of the molding body presents metallic luster, but is not light-transmittance one having brilliant luster.
Further, the decorative key top that selectively reflects rays with a given wavelength and presents brilliant luster can be obtained by laminating films of metal oxides, such as titanium oxide, tungsten oxide, silicon oxide and the like, using the methods described in Japanese Patent Application No. H09-111741, H10-73076 and H10-130838. However, since films are formed by batch production, there are problems such that its production takes a considerable working time and the film-formation requires complicated jigs.
For the resin key top of the recent portable telephone, portable terminal equipment, remote controller for various types of home electric appliances, card remote controller and various types of keyboards, there are increasing needs for ones having brilliant luster, excellent beauty and high-class sense.
Means to Solve the Problems
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to solve the above problems, to provide a decorative light-transmittance sheet type key top that presents an uniform, massive and brilliant luster, to not take much working time in production, and to aim at a simplification of the work process and manufacturing methods thereof.
That is, in a sheet type key top of a pushbutton which is integrally formed with a transmittance plastic film curved according to the shape of a top face side of the key top body on the top face of the key top body made by molded polymer body, a decorative transmittance key top is constituted to reflect selectively light with a given wavelength and present transmittance brilliant color by providing cholesteric liquid crystal layer made of liquid crystal polymer on a surface side and/or the back side of the film.
Further, the decorative light-transmittance key top is characterized that the liquid crystal polymer forming the cholesteric liquid crystal layer is optically active polyester containing as a component hydrocarbon unit selected from aromatic unit having as a substituent hydrocarbon of at least carbon number 3 to 8 and/or halogen, polynuclear hydrocarbon unit and ortho-substituted aromatic unit.
Furthermore, a manufacturing method of a decorative light-transmittance key top comprises the steps of applying rubbing processing on the surface or back face of a light-transmittance plastic film, providing, a cholesteric liquid crystal layer which is applied and oriented with liquid crystal polymer on the processed surface, and integrally molding the light-transmittance plastic film with polymer resin in a die.
More, a manufacturing method of the decorative light-transmittance key top comprises the steps of applying rubbing processing on the surface and/or back face of a sheet type key top in which a light-transmittance plastic film curved according to the shape of a top face side of the key top body is formed integrally with the top face side of the key top body made of polymer resin, and then forming a cholesteric liquid crystal layer by applying and orienting with a liquid crystal polymer.
The present invention is described in more detail below.
The present invention is constituted so as to present light-transmittance brilliant colors that selectively reflect ray with a given wavelength by providing a cholesteric liquid crystal layer on a surface/back face or both faces of a film composing a sheet type key top or a surface/back face or both of the sheet type key top.
Moreover, optionally shaped parts without cholesteric liquid crystal reflecting, such as characters, symbols and the like, may be formed by erasing an orientation of the cholesteric liquid layer by applying laser beam, such as a YAG laser, CO2 laser and the like to a part of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer of the present invention.
The liquid crystal polymer forming the cholesteric liquid crystal layer of the present invention, when the total light transmittance is below 70%, becomes in sufficient in light transmission and make it difficult to identify, from the surface of the sheet type key top, the characters and symbols printed at a bottom side. A preferable total light transmittance is 75% or more, and more preferably 80% or more. Incidentally the total light transmittance means a measurement value conforming to JIS K7105.
The liquid crystal polymer forming the cholesteric liquid crystal layer of the present invention preferably is formed a cholesteric liquid crystal layer of monodomain structure with a unit layer thickness of 50 nm to 300 nm. A center wavelength of beam selectively reflected in the obtained decorative key top is dependent on a thickness of one layer. Further, the selective light reflection of the obtained decorative key top, the number of layers preferably is 5 to 50 and a total layer thickness of 250 nm to 15000 nm in preferable in total thickness. Total layer thickness out side the 250 to 15000 nm range is not preferable, because the brilliant luster is thinned when thinner than 250 nm and the light transmission is degraded when 15000 nm is exceeded. Although the result depends on the type, refraction and shape of the resin used, and the material, refraction and color tone of the liquid crystal polymer, in the range of the total thickness 500 nm to 5000 nm the selective reflection of rays with a given wavelength is high, and excellent beauty one having brilliant luster of main color of red, yellow, blue, violet and the like can be obtained.
For the liquid crystal polymer forming the cholesteric liquid crystal layer of the present invention can be used all those which are liquid crystal state at high temperatures and glassy state at temperatures below the liquid crystal transition point, and for example, principal chain type liquid crystal polymers, such as polyester, polyamide, polycarbonate, polyesterimide and the like, and side chain type liquid crystal polymers, such as polyacrylate, polysiloxane and the like can be listed. Above all, polyester is preferable because of ease of synthesis, clarity, orientation, glass transition point and the like.
Although the composition, type, elastic modulus and color tone of the light-transmittance plastic film of the present invention is not particularly limited, thermoplastic films having favorable clarity, such as polyester, polyolefin, polystyrene, polyurethane, polyamide, silicone, 1,2-polybutadiene, polyethylene vinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl alcohol and the like, or polyamide films, polyethylene telephthalate films, polypropylene films, polycarbonate films, or cellophane films are particularly favorable.
Although the composition, type, elastic modulus and color tone of the polymer resin forming the key top body of the present invention is not particularly limited, materials having favorable clarity, such as polymethyl methacrylate, polycarbonate, silicon resin, amorphous polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polyacrylate, amorphous polyolefin, polymethylpentene, amorphous nylon, polyurethane, ester type thermoplastic elastomer, and styrene type thermoplastic elastomer are particularly favorable. A crystal polyester, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, ABS resin, PET and PBT, or a translucent or slightly tinted resin of crystal nylon, polyphenylene ether, polyacetal, polysulfone, polyether sulfone, polyphenylene sulfide, polyimide, polyether, polyketone, polyether ketone, polyether ether ketone, polyether ntrile, polyetherimde, liquid crystal polymer, fluororesin and the like may also be used. It is also possible to use well-known thermosetting, photosetting or moisture setting resin, such as silicon resin, epoxy resin, phenol resin, unsaturated polyester, di-allylphthalate, acrylic resin, urethane resin and the like.
Moreover, since the smoothness of the key top surface as a base is improved when unhardened liquid resin is applied on a molded sheet type key top to form a hardened base coat layer and a cholesteric liquid crystal layer with liquid crystal polymer is formed by rubbing-processing the surface, according to the present invention can be obtained a light-transmittance sheet type key top that presents particularly beautiful brilliant luster. As liquid resin for the base coat of the present invention, thermo-setting, photo-setting or moisture setting resins, such as acrylic resin, urethane resin, silicon resin, epoxy resin, di-allylphthalate, and the like can be listed.
Furthermore, according to the present invention can be made the brilliant-colored liquid crystal polymer stable physically and chemically by laminating unhardened liquid resin on the formed cholesteric liquid crystal layer to form a 5 xcexcm to 60 xcexcm thick polymer protective layer.
The polymer protective layer of the present invention may be colorless, but since the tone varies when a colored one, such as red, blue, yellow and so on, is used, optional coloring can also be applied to. If the thickness is smaller than 5 xcexcm, mechanical properties of the polymer protective layer is low and it is not possible to thoroughly protect the liquid crystal polymer. On the other hand, if the thickness is larger than 60 xcexcm, vividness of the brilliant luster is weakened and the beauty is spoiled.
A more preferable thickness of the polymer protective layer is in a range of 10 xcexcm to 40 xcexcm. Although the polymer protective layer of the present invention does not specify the type of resin, thermosetting, photo-setting or moisture setting monomers or oligomers of acrylic, urethane, silicone, epoxy and ester groups and the like can be listed.
In the method of forming the cholesteric liquid crystal layer of the present invention may be oriented liquid crystal polymer after directly applying on the molded sheet type key top, or the liquid crystal polymer previously applied on a plastic film and then oriented is formed integrally in a die with polymer resin to form a sheet type key top. The method of applying the liquid crystal polymer for forming the cholesteric liquid crystal layer can be not limited to printing methods, such as screen printing, tampo printing, gravure printing, flexo printing and the like, or spraying, dipping, potting and the like.
The method of forming the key top body of the present invention using a die having a desired key top shape comprises the steps of, setting a film which was previously printed with characters, symbols and the like on its surface and/or back face, filling hot-melt resin or liquid unhardened resin from the back side of the film by injection molding, compression molding, transfer molding, rotary molding or the like, and hardening.
The method of forming the base coating layer of the present invention can be not limited to spraying method as well as potting method, dispenser method, pad printing method and transferring method and so on. Moreover, in order to improve adhesion between a base member made of polymer material and the base coat layer, it is preferable that short wavelength ultraviolet irradiation, corona processing, or coupling agent processing and the like is applied on the surface of the base member.
The method of forming the polymer protective layer of the present invention comprises the steps of, coating by a method of spraying, various printing, potting and so on, and hardening by means of heat, light, moisture and the like.